THE HUNTINGTON COLLECTION
Henry E. Huntington, who was born in 1850 in New England, became a very powerful man, especially when he became a real estate magnate in Southern California. He had a swamp drained, and it became Huntington Beach, California. As a result, he amassed a fortune of 55 million dollars in the 10 years from 1900 to 1910.
At age 60, he started to collect. First, he collected books, as he had loved them his whole life. He then married his Aunt Arabella. They were both 63 at the time. She was the art collector, and she influenced him to start collecting art, as well as books. Then in 1919, he established the Huntington Library, Art Gallery, and Botanical Gardens.
The Huntington Art Collection is displayed in two main sites: their winter home, built in 1911, called the San Marino villa, and a special building for their American collection named the Virginia Steele Scott Gallery. In their home they have the British and French art including portraits and decorative arts. In the Virginia Steele Scott Gallery, the paintings, sculptures, and furnishings are all done by American artists.
In the main home, they have a collection of the finest portraits of the 18th century. The most famous ones are Blue Boy (1770) by Thomas Gainsborough and Pinkie by Thomas Lawrence (1794). It was in the 1920's when Pinkie and Blue Boy came to California, the "pink equals girls" and "blue equals boys" tradition started!
Fun -
You know it’s cold when your teeth are chattering, and they are still on the nightstand.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
A married man should forget his mistakes. There's no use in two people remembering the same thing!
Really! Is that how it started? I've heard that it used to be that pink or red was for boys because red is such a strong color. Not anymore, that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you for the bit of art history. I'm trying to remember the name of... There was another guy from that era who stumbled across a fabulous painting owned by someone who didn't know what it was, and he got it for a rock-bottom price. From there, he thought he was an expert who could pull that sort of thing off again, and so he made himself a target for art fraud as he set up his museum to house his stuff.